DETROIT—ACLU of Michigan Executive Director Kary Moss issued the following statement on Tuesday shortly after the Michigan Attorney General announced charges against former Flint emergency managers Darnell Earley and Jerry Ambrose, along with two others, for actions related to the lead contamination of Flint’s water supply:
“Darnell Earley and Jerry Ambrose may be the ones facing charges, but it is really Michigan’s misguided emergency manager law that has been indicted here. There is no question that this antidemocratic law—which granted sweeping power to unelected appointees accountable only to the governor—is the real culprit in the Flint Water Crisis. With almost unlimited power over Flint, these appointees were able to expose an entire city to lead-poisoned water for two years while turning a deaf ear to residents’ constant cries their water supply posed a health hazard. We welcome the recent actions by the Attorney General, but we urge the state to reform this law so that nothing like this can ever happen again.”
